- Earlier in the year I found out one of my favorite artists, Geninne, was having a mini art retreat in Boulder, Co. It took me all of 5 minutes to decide to go. I do not love to fly plus I have not been this far west so I am driving the route. I wanted to see the land and visit a few places. I rented a Ford Escape..my husband told me they wouldn’t have that car….they didn’t….I received a Subaru Forester. Everything is not where I think it should be. I am thankful that I have had good weather because I couldn’t get the front windshield wipers to work, the back wasn’t a problem. That would come in handy for driving backwards. I love the bluetooth synching to my phone….it’s great when I get a call. It doesn’t like my voice though when I give it a number to dial…Pardon…try again it says. At least it is polite! I made it to Mansfield 11 hours later. I prepared myself for a long trip the first day. It was still light because they are in a different time zone and I snapped some pictures. This bank is the one that helped the Wilders buy Rocky Ridge Farm along with the 100.00 that Laura brought with her from South Dakota. It was located across the street from my Bed and Breakfast.
Mansfield is still as quaint as when the Wilders lived there, at least the parts that I saw. There is a park in the town square and it had a memorial up for a major league baseball player that lived in the vicinity of Mansfield in the early 1900’s.
Carl “Sub” Mays and here is the Wikipedia report.
The Weaver Inn, B&B I stayed at is on the left and the mexican restaurant that i dined at that night is on the right. The Weaver Inn proprietors were fantastic people. They were from the area and I had a nice talk with her while having my breakfast. They have 6 rooms total in the Inn and I took the only one downstairs. It was a very nice room, the building was the oldest in town but it has been kept up well. I did have a resident cricket that serenaded me all night.
I don’t feel that the buildings have changed too much since the early days of the town.
Outside of the tourism building.
I did miss the annual Wilder festival taking place this weekend.
Many houses have this kind of rock on the outside.
A nice bust of Laura in the towns square.
The Weaver Inn had a nice coffee, pastry shop inside also. This is where I had my breakfast. It was very inviting and cozy.
Since I coudn’t take pictures I jotted from memory in a journal my observations. When in Illinois I saw gas for $1.91 per gal. I found this pretty moth, dead on the parking lot. Thought it was too pretty to let get run over. Crossed the Mississippi river into St. Louis and saw the arch and Busch Stadium. Then somewhere there was this huge cross looming up and I couldn’t see a church around. Someone did a youtube video of it. It had a sidewalk and seating around the bottom. Always signage for Meramac Caverns….you can now zipline and rent horses there. Vinyards and winerys. Every town outside of St. Louis on I44 is deemed a historic town on the signs along the interstate. With our IPads my family and I facetime which is really nice. Technology is great. Thus ended my day one journey.
